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Holiday Delight is only 8 days away!
Stop by on November 22 for cultural performances, food from local vendors, and children's activities!
Visit our website to learn more! We are still in need of volunteers for the big day. If you or someone you know is interested, please use our volunteer form below!
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Tampopo Kai Japan Tree at Griffin MSI Highlighted on NBC Chicago News! | |
Since 1989, JASC’s Tampopo Kai families have proudly decorated the Japan Tree at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry’s annual Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light exhibit — a Chicago holiday tradition that celebrates global cultures and community spirit.
Each year, our Tampopo Kai teacher Naomi Negi and participating families including our Children’s Program Coordinator Yuri Yatsuda, gather to adorn the Japan Tree with handcrafted ornaments that reflect traditional Japanese artistry.
These include temari (embroidered thread balls), washi-ningyō (paper dolls in kimono), orizuru (paper cranes), kabuto (samurai helmets), and kusudama (origami balls). Together, these ornaments symbolize both the beauty and creativity of Japanese culture.
In Japan, Christmas is celebrated as a joyful, secular holiday shared with family and friends. The Japan Tree brings that same spirit of togetherness to the Museum’s exhibit, which runs November 8, 2025 through January 5, 2026.
We thank our Tampopo Kai families for continuing this special tradition and sharing the warmth of Japanese culture with the Chicago community each holiday season!
NBC Chicago News highlighted this exhibit, including an interview with our Tampopo Kai teacher Naomi Negi! Click below to watch the full video:
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October 25th was a busy and exciting day for the Tampopo children!
We spent the first half of the class enjoying Undō-kai (Sports Day)—a traditional school event in Japan held every fall. Many children experienced for the first time the fun and excitement of this classic activity, including the Red & White Beanbag Toss and Tug of War!
Of course, we started with Radio Exercise (Rajio Taisō) to warm up our bodies before the games. This exercise routine has been around since 1928 and remains a beloved part of daily life in Japan—from young children to seniors, everyone knows the music and the moves by heart!
The second half of the day was dedicated to our Halloween Fashion Show, where the children proudly walked the red carpet in their costumes. They struck their best poses to music personally chosen by Naomi—K-pop, Demon Hunters, and Perfume all brought great vibes and energy to the runway!
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Let's celebrate the season with a Japanese-style holiday party menu featuring dishes that are also part of traditional Osechi (New Year’s cuisine)! This class will be mostly demonstration-style, with some hands-on activities, so participants can relax, learn, and enjoy tasting together. | | | |
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Learn how to craft beautiful flower displays in the Ohara style with our Ikebana classes at JASC!
All levels are welcome - fundamentals are introduced and reinforced in every class for beginners and experts alike! Register today for a relaxing, educational cultural experience.
Ikebana will be going on a short winter break and will return in January 2026!
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We’d love to see you at our next Youth Volunteer Meetings!
This is a great opportunity to get involved, connect with other youth, and support JASC events.
Come join us and bring your ideas and energy. We can’t wait to see you there!
The next meeting will be on Monday, November 17th!
Volunteers will assist in preparation for this year's Holiday Delight & Kodomo Matsuri!
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Interested in learning Japanese or building up your language skills?
JASC language classes are led by native Japanese speakers and are a great way to strengthen your comprehension with in-person and online options.
How do JASC Japanese classes work?
Our Beginners I and II classes operate in 4 sessions throughout the year with each session focusing on 3 chapters in the Genki I and II textbooks.
Beginners I Session 1 is the best match for introductory level Japanese, where students learn hiragana and basic vocabulary before building up to later sessions.
Join our Intermediate or Advanced Class - if you have studied Japanese for some time or have completed the Genki II textbook (or equivalent), you can try our higher level classes for more exposure and practice.
You can always join a class mid-session! It may require some self study of previous chapters to keep up with the class, but students can join sessions at any time so long as there is capacity.
Please reach out to Ruby at rgrillier@jasc-chicago.org for additional information on language classes or to arrange for a free trial class.
The next Beginner I Session 1 class is expected to start in February 2026 - Please stay tuned for registration dates or join our waitlist!
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Japanese Conversation Table:
Thursday, December 11, 2025
12月の日本語お話会は12月11日（木）です
開催日：12月11日
開催時間：午後12:00から2:00まで
参加費：１人/１回5ドル
日本語で交流したい方へのお知らせです。（日本語の会話クラスではありません。）
普段あまりほかの方との交流のない方、一人でお住まいの方、思いっきり日本語でおしゃべりしてみませんか？
楽しい話題や暮らしのアイデアを分け合い、ちょっとした悩みや不安など、皆で話し合えば解決法がでてくるかも知れません。いろいろなことを日本語で話し合い、英語社会で溜まったストレスを解消しましょう。
このプログラムに興味のある方、参加したいと思われる方は、Eメールで川口ケイclasses@jasc-chicago.org とルビー・グリリエー rgrillier@jasc-chicago.org
または電話：773-275-0097内線226, までご連絡ください。
Calling all native Japanese speakers to our monthly gathering of fellowship and connection with other native Japanese speakers! Please note this is not a Japanese language class but rather a time for fellowship while speaking in fluent Japanese.
Date: Thursday, December 11, 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm
Cost: $5 per person, per session
Location: JASC 5700 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago IL 60659
JASC's Conversation Table welcomes everyone to share their experiences, ideas, and stories through social interaction and offers an opportunity to expand their social networks with others in the local community.
If you know someone who would like to participate, please contact Kay Kawaguchi by email at classes@jasc-chicago.org or call her at 773-275-0097 x 226 and leave a message to RSVP. Kay can answer any questions about the program in Japanese or in English. You may also reach out to Ruby Grillier at rgrillier@jasc-chicago.org
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JASC’s Adult Day Services provides older adults with a safe, engaging environment that supports their physical, mental, and emotional well-being through customized care plans and daily activities like art, music, and dance. Located at 5700 N. Lincoln Ave., our program also offers respite for family caregivers and the added support of two on-staff Registered Nurses.
Interested in Adult Day Services?
For more information, you can contact us:
We urge prospective clients and their families to tour our new facility on 5700 N Lincoln Ave and check out this wonderful program.
| | | | 80th Anniversary Fundraiser: Eighty years ago, JACL Chicago was formed to support the civil rights and livelihoods of people of Japanese ancestry who moved to Chicago after the closing of the WWII incarceration camps. To honor this legacy and look towards the future, we invite you to join JACL Chicago to celebrate 80 years of community building, education, and advocacy! Visit our EventBrite page for more information and to purchase your tickets. | |
Volunteers Needed to Organize the 2026 Jerome Rohwer Pilgrimage
The Jerome Rohwer Committee is beginning to establish a task committee for the 2026 Pilgrimage. The following volunteer task committees are in need of assistance:
1. Communications--social media, design, outreach
2. Registration--organizing, answering questions, labels, tracking registrations, etc.
3. Programming--topic selection, contacting possible speakers, scheduling
4. Printed Program—artwork, content, printing
5. McGehee—Coordinate program (shortened to Obon, Taiko), community participation, Lunch, etc.
6. Volunteer Coordination—maintain database and schedule of all volunteers. Ensure that volunteers have tasks clearly defined at Pilgrimage, etc.
7. Intergenerational/Generational/Geographical—organize discussion groups
If you’d like to volunteer, please email info@jeromerohwer.org. They will supply the link with the signup document.
Thank you for volunteering to help make the 2026 Pilgrimage a success!
Learn more about the Jerome Rohwer Pilgrimage on their website: https://jeromerohwer.org/index.php
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Volunteers Needed to Organize the 2026 Jerome Rohwer Pilgrimage
The Jerome Rohwer Committee is beginning to establish a task committee for the 2026 Pilgrimage. The following volunteer task committees are in need of assistance:
1. Communications--social media, design, outreach
2. Registration--organizing, answering questions, labels, tracking registrations, etc.
3. Programming--topic selection, contacting possible speakers, scheduling
4. Printed Program—artwork, content, printing
5. McGehee—Coordinate program (shortened to Obon, Taiko), community participation, Lunch, etc.
6. Volunteer Coordination—maintain database and schedule of all volunteers. Ensure that volunteers have tasks clearly defined at Pilgrimage, etc.
7. Intergenerational/Generational/Geographical—organize discussion groups
If you’d like to volunteer, please email info@jeromerohwer.org. They will supply the link with the signup document.
Thank you for volunteering to help make the 2026 Pilgrimage a success!
Learn more about the Jerome Rohwer Pilgrimage on their website: https://jeromerohwer.org/index.php
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The MIYUMI Project at the Music Box
Sunday, Nov. 16th | Music Box Theatre | 11:30AM
3733 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613
From Chicago Film Society:
Mikio Naruse’s career spanned the 1930s late-silent era up through the time of color film and anamorphic widescreen. His interest in the professional and domestic lives of modern working women in Japan was a constant throughout the dozens of films he worked on, reaching as far back as Every-Night Dreams, one of Naruse’s earliest surviving features. Sumiko Kurishima, one of the first major screen stars in the Japanese film industry, stars as bar hostess Omitsu, toughing out single motherhood after being abandoned by her husband Mizuhara. After a three-year absence, Mizuhara suddenly returns as a supposedly reformed man ready to care for his family, only to create more problems for them through his weak and ineffectual constitution. While the subject is squarely in his wheelhouse, Naruse’s visual style in Every-Night Dreams is unusual in his filmography for its bombastic approach, finding myriad opportunities to echo Omitsu’s tumultuous home life with nervy push-ins and ominous dolly movements.
35mm from National Film Archive of Japan, permission Janus
Feature film: Every-night Dreams (1933) direct by: Naruse Mikio
Film preceded by: “Up and Down the Waterfront” (Rudy Burckhart, 1946) – 8 min – 16mm from Canyon Cinema
Presented by Chicago Film Society
Sponsored in by Asian Improv aRts Midwest
For ticketing and more information visit: https://musicboxtheatre.com/films-and-events/every-night-dreams
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Taiko Legacy 22 & Reduction 11
Taiko Legacy 22 | Saturday, December 20th | Edlis Neeson Theater | 2PM
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 220 E Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60611
Asian Improv aRts Midwest & Tsukasa Taiko present Taiko Legacy 22 with a return to the original essence of theatrical taiko. Tsukasa's performance unit Gintenkai is joined by the next generation of community performers and longtime collaborators Melody Takata and members of GenRyu Arts from San Francisco to present the simplified grandeur of contemporary taiko with traditional aesthetics.
Featuring: Melody Takata & GenRyu Arts, Yoshinojo Fujima, Ikunojo Fujima, Kioto Aoki, & Tsukasa Taiko.
Purchase Tickets HERE.
Reduction 11 | Friday, December 19th | Edlis Neeson Theater | 7PM
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 220 E Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60611
In tandem with the exhibition Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Asian Improv aRts Midwest & Tsukasa Taiko is delighted to present Reduction 11, as part of our annual end-of-year concert series.
This year's program features the music of Yoko Ono's SKYLANDING, a project recorded by Tatsu Aoki's The MIYUMI Project in 2016 and a collaboration with Yoko Ono for her sculpture in Jackson Park. The MIYUMI Project plays with Tsukasa Taiko to present this project on the theatrical stage with traditional Japanese music & dance.
Reduction 11 also marks the last of 30th anniversary of the Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival programming, celebrating three decades of jazz and experimental music by Asian and Asian Americans in Chicago.
Featuring: Nicole Mitchell, Dee Alexander, Michael Zerang, Hamid Drake, Mwata Bowden, Edward Wilkerson Jr., Rami Atassi, Jamie Kempkers, Tatsu Aoki, Eigen Aoki, Kioto Aoki, and Gintenkai at Tsukasa Taiko
Pre-show programming at 6:30pm will be the final public presentation for Kioto Aoki & Helen Nagata's Folk Arts Mentorship program grant received from the Illinois Arts Council.
Purchase Tickets HERE.
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If you’re a Japanese–English bilingual speaker—or know someone who is—here’s a great opportunity to support important research!
PhD candidate Onae Parker from the University of Iowa is conducting a study on the communicative strategies used by Japanese-English bilinguals, with a special focus on heritage speakers and the diverse language experiences within our community. Her research aims to highlight and better understand the rich, lived experiences of bilingual speakers.
Onae is still working toward her recruitment goal, and every participant makes a difference.
If you’d like to support their work, you can take part online in one or both 30-minute studies.
Participants will receive a $20 Amazon gift card for each study completed.
Thank you for helping uplift bilingual voices in our community!
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